Thursday, August 28, 2014

We do!! Here at Flat Connections we acknowledge the fact that embedding meaningful connections and authentic collaborations into the curriculum is not easy....in fact it is hard!

We also acknowledge that because global collaboration is hard MOST teachers and schools are not doing it in any form - even the schools who have spent thousands of dollars or RMB or Riyals or pounds etc. on technology resources!True global collaboration in the classroom needs a shift in teaching that allows teachers and students to 'flatten' the learning experience to bring the outside world in and put themselves out there - to build bridges for global empathy and create workable structures where all participants can learn with and not just from each other. But what does this all mean?What are some barriers?We all know what schools can be like, so let's list some of the deterrents to global collaboration:

Technology infrastructure - hardware, software, network - Is your school ready to collaborate globally? Do you have a supportive IT person? Can you have the tools you need for connections and collaboration? (e.g. Skype, Edmodo, Wikispaces, Google apps)

Technology access - Do you and your students have access to tools regularly so that you can connect and collaborate? Global collaboration does not mean you need to be a 1:1 or BYOD or BYOT school/classroom - many of us have done global collaboration with one computer, 30 students and a weak Internet connection - but you do need access every week and understand the responsibility of connecting with partners

Technology fluency - Are you and/or your students able to work with the technology to make your collaboration a success? Can you Skype or edit a wiki without stress? What other Web 2.0 tools can you or have you used that will support the global collaboration (e.g. Voicethread, Padlet). If not, do you have help with this?

Global digital citizenship skills - Are you and your students aware of what it means to be learning online? Have you discussed reliable and responsible use of online spaces? Do you have digital citizenship guidelines in place to support this in your school community? Have you met with parents and students to explain the objectives of collaborating beyond the classroom?

Non-conformity - Many schools do not encourage 'teacherpreneurs' or 'outliers'. This means, if for example, one grade 3 teacher wanted to do a global collaborative project, the ruling is that unless ALL grade 3 teachers can do it as well, then it is not possible. The usual scenario is the other teachers are NOT interested so therefore the collaboration is dropped....sound familiar?

The 'we are already collaborating and don't need anything more' approach - A deeper barrier to why more classrooms and schools are not collaborating globally is the lack of a shared understanding of what global collaboration is. More needs to be written about this, however the typical scenario is a classroom or school who may have a focus on a particular country or project that becomes all-consuming for a few, but in reality is non-involvement for most. Another scenario is a classroom or school who does video conferencing (rich learning experiences of course - includes regular Skype calls) but then never moves to the asynchronous collaborations that are ESSENTIAL when embedding curriculum objectives for global competency

No idea where to start - Yes! we really know what this feels like and there are many real solutions to this now. It all starts with teachers connecting themselves to like-minded educators and existing projects already running via places like The Global Classroom, Global Education Conference, Flat Connections....and more....

What are some enablers?

Your PLN - Teachers who build a personal learning network will find other educators ready and willing to support them into global collaborative learning - this is such an important enabling step. Connecting your self as an educator (e.g. via Twitter, Google+, Ning communities etc) and being a reliable contributor to these communities (that doe NOT mean you contribute every day - but when you can, and when you need to) will launch you into 'globalness'

Finding a reliable partner(s) - How many of you have started to reach out globally, found a partner and then the project failed? We all know what this feels like - bur DO NOT give up! Learn, reflect, work out what to do better next time, find a more reliable partner(s) and try again

Learning standards and framework - Have you looked at these recently? Have you really looked? Don't they say things like 'intercultural understanding' or collaboration with others at a distance'? I am sure they do - so what are you doing about this? The occasional Skype call is NOT enough - meet with your curriculum or learning and teaching coordinator and discuss the possibilities - discussion and combined problem solving within a school is a BIG enabler to move forward globally

Curriculum design - To embed meaningful learning experiences into the curriculum takes some redesign and pre-planning. Global collaboration, like any other objective, needs careful design and preparation. This includes connecting and communicating with partner teachers in other places and determining the structure and timeline of the collaboration, the outcomes, the shared knowledge and the co-created products. Of course this enabler - such a wonderful juicy challenge for all educators - is often seen as a barrier (too hard, not allowed to 'change' the curriculum etc)

Web 2.0 tools - Yes! It has to be listed here that access to Web 2.0 tools is the bridge to collaborative learning. You will NOT be able to collaborate globally using a school-based learning management system (or Google apps just for your school) without difficulty. The beauty of Web 2.0 tools is they are mostly free. Not sure what these are - see Cool Tools for Schools for MANY examples

At Flat Connections we encourage all readers of this blog post who are in schools as teachers, leaders and administrators to consider how you can take your learning and your students learning global:

It is imperative

It is one of the major reasons for using mobile and ubiquitous digital technologies

It does support global awareness and competency and intercultural understanding - and we believe this is a GOOD thing, so good in fact that....

It will change the world - it already has for the many teachers and students who have taken the opportunity to connect and collaborate.

So much more to say......but for now......We invite you to browse Flat Connections global projects (fully managed and supported projects for all levels of K-12), and Flat Connections professional development (to learn more about how to take your learning global).

It is
with much anticipation that I am exploring the Australian National
Curriculum (ANC) documents and becoming absorbed in the 'Intercultural
Understanding' sections. As an IB (International Baccalaureate) teacher
for 10 years, and a global educator, having taught across six different
countries, I may have had more access to conversations and documents to
do with intercultural understanding, cultural awareness, third culture
kids, international mindedness, and cultural awareness than perhaps the
average Australian teacher to date. It is certainly heartening to see a
focus and emphasis on exploring how to recognise different cultures and
develop respect now embedded into the relatively new national curriculum
guidelines.

The ability to connect, communicate and
collaborate with educators and students in all parts of the world using
common online tools has changed the way I teach in the classroom, as
well as changed the way I work as an administrator. A 21st century
educator is connected, communicates in a reliable and responsible way,
and 'flattens' the walls of their classroom in appropriate ways to
enhance the educational learning experience of all. Therefore, every
topic, every unit of work, every opportunity needs to be reviewed in
terms of how it can be made relevant through external contact and
collaboration. Gone are the days where it was too difficult to bring the
world into the room. You, the teacher, are only limited by your
imagination!

I firmly believe in moving away from the 'wow' factor and embedding good
practice into everyday teaching and learning. Therefore, even though
the 'hook' for many classroom activities is the 'wow' e.g. meeting and
learning with others who are not face to face in the same room, the aim
is to make this mode of working normal so that an 'unflat' classroom
becomes unusual. Yes, it can be a lot of work for teachers, it can be
intimidating for students, it can also not be the most comfortable way
that students/teenagers want to learn (initially) given other demands in
their lives. However we are talking about a win-win situation here. We
are talking about providing choices for learning, local and global interactions that are meaningful and support authentic problem solving.

This news article caught my eye as it is my old high school in Victoria! This type of media reporting is problematic - a typical negative report based on the need to have ultimate control. A more positive approach is for teachers to be modeling best online behaviour and being online in the same spaces as the students. The conversation needs to be about how to best represent yourself and your ideas online while being respectful to others.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Are you interested in getting your classroom involved globally? Are
you interested in trying something innovative, fun, exciting, and
challenging with your classroom? Are you looking to further your
connections and professional development beyond your classrooms walls,
your city and even your country? This blog post is for you.

Everyone
always says, “do this with your classroom” or “use this technology” or
“it is not that hard just do this, then that, then talk to this person,
then spin around and touch your toes”. Darn some of these innovative
teachers! They just make things look so easy. Well, I will tell you
this: It can be easy. Don’t worry I am not going to ask you to touch
your toes, or ask you to attempt a back flip. I am going to ask you to
go to this website: www.flatconnections.com.
There you are going to find projects you can get you and your classroom
involved with, and easily. These Global projects can fit into many
different curriculums, outcomes, and classrooms.

Flat Connections began when Julie Lindsay decided
to take her experiences as a Global Educator and share them. Flat
Connections has many projects already set up and organized for the busy
teacher. It allows you to just jump right in without having to feel lost or confused. The projects for your classroom are listed according to which grade you teach and it is as easy as clicking this link to apply. There is also a free webinar to attend on September 2nd 2014 that will be hosted by Julie. All your questions will be answered!

Monday, August 04, 2014

It is that time again when organisers at Flat Connections start to promote and encourage global participation in projects and teacher PD. As teachers in the northern hemisphere return to their classrooms, and as southern hemisphere teachers plan for the rest of the year, NOW is a great time to be planning for global learning and embedding collaborative experiences into the curriculum.

We encourage all teachers and leaders to think ahead - global collaboration is not always easy, but forward planning in conjunction with curriculum organisation will build successful experiences for you and your students. As always, we are here to help!

Flat Connections provides
resources, skills, strategies and access to learning about the world,
with the world. Led by Julie Lindsay, Flat Connections joins learners
with the purpose of 'learning while doing' in a global context.Right
now Flat Connections is planning for global connections and
collaborations starting September 2014. This blog post
shares opportunities for joining global projects K-12 as well as teacher
online courses. We invite you to join our mailing list and receive more regular updates about Flat Connections. The July 2014 newsletter shares exciting links including Flat Connections Conference live events!Global Projects K-12Flat Connections provides managed global collaborative projects for students in K-12 across the world. The principles of these projects are always the same but the content is varied:

K-2 Building Bridges to Tomorrow
- This project uses Web 2.0 tools to support communication and
interaction as well as collaboration and creation between students and
teachers from classrooms around the world.

What are teachers saying about this project?

“I loved being introduced to new technology to use in the classroom and to connect with other classrooms. I especially enjoyed our meetings as I learned a lot from you all. My boys enjoyed skyping and we will continue to do so in the future. And I'm glad I've been introduced to Voicethread. I will definitely continue to use this tool.” Betsy Tyson

“My students loved seeing other schools around the country and around the world. They loved the idea of creating something with other kids not in their own school.” Kelly Jenkins

“They really enjoyed the handshake and the importance and variety of ways to say hello.” Sharon Davison

A Week in the Life... Gr3-6- is
an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allows young people
(and their teachers) to connect, communicate, explore global topics and
issues and create digital artifacts together that share solutions.
(Yes! This year AWL is being redesigned to include global issues and
sharing of ideas for global solutions - come and join us!).

What are teachers saying about this project?

"Students were exposed to a variety of tech tools that may have been new
to them. They liked feeling like they were a part of something larger
with others from all over. This project also helped some of the teachers
from our school learn about collaboration and learn some new tools." Bonnie Birdsall

“Regardless of where we live and how different our environments are, there are many things we have in common.” Elena Markowicz-Troy

“My students really had fun taking the photos to share. We had some great discussions about what others would want to know about us.” Tina Schmidt

Digiteen/Digitween-
global hands-on projects for upper elementary, middle and high school
students, (typically Grade 4-12, 8-18 year old). These projects study
digital citizenship and promote effective and responsible online choices
as well as immersing students into an online educational community for
learning and collaborating.

What are teachers saying about this project?

“Best outcomes were Learning more about the responsibilities of being a digital citizen; learning how to better communicate with others through non face-to-face communication” Susan Shaw, Singapore

“Best outcomes were conversations about digital citizenship, connecting with other kids and working through how to connect, how to communicate, class video project at end, excitement about being part of global project” Barbara McFall, USA

Flat Connections Global Project -
fully supported and managed global collaborative experience for middle
and high school students (typically grade/year 9-12, 14-18 years old).
It challenges all learners to connect and communicate beyond their
immediate classroom and school. It also encourages collaboration and
co-creation of final artifacts as well as student leadership, while
exploring emerging technologies and envisioning the future of learning.

What are teachers saying about this project?

This project has become an integral part of my courses. It is a great experience for me and the students. Brian McLaughlin, USA

“Best outcomes are self-direction, collaboration in support of tangible outcomes” Bruce Forsyth

What are students saying about this project?

“The project was well organised and I found it especially helpful that the conference calls were recorded, so that I could refer back to them when I could not attend. The video work was fun and creative. It gave us an opportunity to express our understanding of the topic and present it in an informative and unique manner.” Maddie, Australia

“The organization of the student leaders was very well put. I was able to communicate with a few leaders and a few teachers. I also was able to communicate with all the members in my group.” Kunal, USA

“This project was a great experience for me to be able to collaborate with people from all over the world and learn how to communicate with people who have different ideas and perspectives. Being a student leader was also very important to me because I have trouble being a leader and being assertive, so this helped me with these skills.” Danielle, USA

What are ‘Expert Advisors’ and ‘Judges’ saying about this project?

“As a pre-service teacher, this was truly an invaluable experience for me. I will definitely take these collaborative skills with me in my future classroom!” Laura Callis, USA

“It was a pleasure enabling my pre-service teachers to become the mentor of students. The opportunity for them to encourage, provide information and guidance was priceless!” Janice Newlin, Athens University, Alabama

“The educational benefits are huge. Establishing valuable networks, sharing with each other and experiencing different situations provides great benefit personally and also to students. It is always essential to have experienced 'flat connections" educators involved and to use their advice, their expertise and to provide a mentoring role really reassures others that challenges happen to us all, help with the use of different tools and overcome cultural and other issues that do arise from time to time.” Anne Mirtschin, Australia

“This was my first time judging. I thought Julie did a great job at guiding us and answering any questions we had.” Cindy Nickodam, USA

Global Youth Debates- a
global collaborative project created around research and formal
debating. It uses Web 2.0 tools to connect, communicate and debate
across the world. 2012-14 theme: Sustainability. New theme for 2014-15 announced later in August.

What are teachers saying about this project?

“The asynchronous debate was very exciting for my students - to know they were debating against real teams living somewhere else in the world was very powerful. Of, course, winning both debates was an absolute highlight but the students had learned a great deal leading up to the finals so the winning was icing on the cake! The learning curve that happened after receiving judges feedback was really meaningful and my students knew they were expected to apply the feedback to their next debate. The students were also very invested in the topic and were very keen to learn as much as possible - it was a great topic choice, thank you!” Susan Shaw, Singapore

“We loved hearing our opponents' rebuttals to our arguments, also the judges' feedback was very meaningful and helped us to grow. The synchronous debate was nerve-wracking, but exciting too!” Nicola Takizawa, Japan

Teacher Professional DevelopmentFlat Connections is offering TWO courses starting in September:1. Flat Connections Global Educator - the focus is on global learning, global education and becoming globally competent.
These themes are intermingled with all parts of the course and
conversations centre around challenges and ideas to do with technology
use for global connections.Part 1
aims to set teachers up with tools and connections and knowledge of how
a global collaborative educator and classroom functions.Part 2 aims to support global project design, implementation and management.read more......

What course graduates are saying about this course.......

When
asked if she would recommend Flat Connections Global Educator:
"Absolutely! It was especially helpful to have worked on it with other
members of my school district so there was local support and guidance.
But even without the local cohort, it would be beneficial. This course
takes the daunting goal of global collaboration and breaks it down into
bite-sized chunks which are manageable." Krista Brakhage, Colorado, USA
2014.

“Yes. It was chaotic and hectic,
but that's what our students experience. It got my hands dirty and
introduced me to some wonderful educators around the globe. The chance
to be guided by Julie Lindsay in this way is a golden opportunity for
educators.” Cameron Patterson, Australia 2013

“It
gave an understanding of the organizational framework behind the
programs and the kind of technology and skill level needed by a teacher
and students to achieve good outcomes.” Avylon Magaray, Australia 2013

“I
joined the cohort that started this fall to see if I could complete it.
This time it was run solely by Julie Lindsay and she did not simply
reiterate the material from the book, She is an excellent role model and
brought in a lot of new material and conducted good discussions
online.” Maureen Tumenas, USA 2013

2. Flat Connections Global Primer- 4-week
course aims to provide educators and education leaders and
administrators at all levels, across all school systems, resources and
strategies for taking themselves, their classroom, their school, and
even their country global!read more.....

Excellent article by George Siemens and the recent state of MOOCs.
My favourite paragraph:
And, what learners really need has diversified over the past several decades as the knowledge economy has expanded. Universities have not kept pace with learner needs and MOOCs have caused a much needed stir — a period of reflection and self-assessment. To date, higher education has largely failed to learn the lessons of participatory culture, distributed and fragmented value systems and networked learning. MOOCs have forced a serious assessment of the idea of a university and how education should be related to and supportive of the society in which it exists.

I am delighted and amazed to see the range and quality of available online courses for adult education through outstanding universities and schools across the world. Although already a jazz musician I signed up for a 6-week improvisation course with Gary Burton at the Berklee School of Music, starting in October. What a great opportunity to learn with the best - and this will be a re-visit for me to get my brain thinking about jazz again - something I do not do enough of these days!